“He became what we are so that he might make us what he is.”
While I am told that I live in the 21st century (I am still not convinced), I spend a considerable amount of time in the first six centuries. Ignatius of Antioch, Irenaeus of Lyons, Origen of Alexandria: such have become dear travelling companions on this journey we call the Christian life.
Sometimes my academic interest in early/late antique Christianity seems extracurricular, given the very present task of pastoral ministry. At other times, however (such as now), it seems utterly central.
Right now, I have the privilege of reviewing Andrew Hofer’s (OP) recent book, The Power of Patristic Preaching (CUA Press, 2023).
In this marvelously written volume, Hofer traces the lives and preaching philosophies of seven ancient Christian figures: Origen, Ephrem, Gregory (of Nazianzus), Chrysostom, Augustine, Leo, and Gregory (the Great). With each figure, he begins with an outline of their personal life and proceeds to examine the distinct flavor of their preaching, always with an eye toward present renewal.
Uniting these seven profiles are three touchstones, as he calls them, which run through the book’s argument and inform each figure’s contributions. These touchstones are incarnation, proclamation, and deification. For the purposes of this post, and given the season we are in, I would like to focus on just one of these touchstones, that is: deification.
“Deification (theōsis),” writes Hofer, “is attaining likeness to God and union with him as far as is possible.” He goes on: “Created in the image of God, human beings are re-created to resemble God during this life and ultimately in the glory of heaven.” Early Christian preaching, Hofer notes, “vividly conveys our experience of being taken up into Christ in a variety of ways.”
In the 180s (AD), Irenaeus of Lyons famously wrote, “Jesus Christ, on account of his immense love, became what we are so that he would perfect us to be what he is.”
Clement of Alexandria writing toward the end of Irenaeus’s life expressed a series of similar sentiments. His papal successor, whom you may know, Athanasius, famously agreed: “He became what we are so that he might make us what he is” (On the Incarnation, early 300s).
Deification, divinization, or theōsis, are hallmarks of Eastern Orthodox theology, but such doctrines have made little headway in the Western Church. I believe that especially at this time of year we would do well as Western Christians to pay attention to the doctrine of theōsis.
Theōsis, according to Irenaeus, does not mean that humans become “little gods” but simply that they become “like God” by partaking of the divine nature in Christ (2 Pet 1:4). The incarnation of God the Word –what we as Christians celebrate on December 25th–re-heads (recapitulates) humanity by restoring God’s image within us.
Irenaeus’s work, Against Heresies, is a particularly revealing source for (some) early Christian understandings of theōsis. Therein he claims that “the Lord Jesus imparted God to human beings by means of the Spirit”; that “he attached humanity to God by Christ’s own incarnation”; and that “he bestowed upon humanity true immortality by means of communion with God the Father” (5.1).
He later writes that through Jesus Christ believers “partake of the glory of God the Father” (5.35), and enter a kingdom “which is the beginning of incorruption,” in which believers “share in the divine nature” (5.32). Through union with the incarnate Word then, which comes through faith, “what was mortal is conquered and swallowed up by immortality, and the corruptible by incorruptibility” (4.38).
Irenaeus thus believes along with many others that the Incarnation restores in us the image of God. Christ’s Incarnation “showed forth God’s image truly” and “re-established that image surely, assimilating human beings to the invisible Father through means of the visible Word” (5.16). According to the doctrine of theōsis, as believers are united to Christ, they share in God’s divine nature and become more and more like God.
One aspect of theōsis which I find particularly helpful for church ministry is mentioned by Hofer in the introduction to his book: “Because of this mystery early Christians understood that they could find Christ in their graced brothers and sisters in particular ways.” As one reads in Col. 1:27, “the mystery which was hidden for ages has now been made manifest: it is Christ in you.” Hofer explains further: “All the baptized then are to be Christ’s presence and to show him in the world.”
This process of theōsis is roughly synonymous with the process of Christian formation. Paul Blowers thus writes, “A Christian is formed over time through multiple means and disciplines, and not simply in a single, momentary act of intellectual assent.”
While that single momentary act may reveal the point at which you are united to Christ (initially), the process of living-into that union through study, prayer, service, and fellowship, is what makes you gradually come to resemble God.
As we look forward to Christmas this year, let us reflect then upon the true meaning of the Incarnation: “All things were made through the Word but that which was made from within the Word was life,” God’s own life breathed into us (John 1:3-4; cf., Gen. 2:7).
From the beginning human beings were uniquely animated by the breath, the life of God. From the very beginning we were meant to experience a quality of life equal to that of God Himself.
This does not mean we will become “gods” which others ought to worship and praise, no. It does mean, however, that the life God experiences in unbroken unity, love, and action is the life we are destined to share.
In the Incarnation, the capacity for such life has been restored to each and every one of us. Jesus Christ is the embodiment of such life (in concentrated form) and through union with him we can share in it too.
Eternal life starts now.
And it is not just an infinitely extended version of the natural mode of life we all know. It is a sharing of God’s very own life, a life of relentlessly selfless love and care.
May we catch a glimpse of that life this Christmas, but may that merely be the beginning, of a drawn-out process of together coming to resemble… our God.
Jonah Bissell
Pastor